


Summer Lovin'

by grumpyphoenix



Series: Brain Salad [4]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: F/F, Not Beta Read, Pining, Summer Reperatory Theater, ah the old days, epic crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-28
Updated: 2018-06-28
Packaged: 2019-05-29 22:23:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15082982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grumpyphoenix/pseuds/grumpyphoenix
Summary: Charlie has an epic crush on the stage manager, Rowena.





	Summer Lovin'

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: There were dozens of jokes out there about how many gay men there were in college theatre clubs, which completely discounted the number of queer girls and the fact that I was falling in love with my stage manager with each moment that passed on by.  
> https://promptsforthestrugglingauthor.tumblr.com/post/175322070686/writing-prompt-523

Rowena is a witch. Charlie knows she’s a witch because of the pentacle-moonphase necklace she’s wearing, and of course, the gossip. She doesn’t care about the gossip, frankly, because summer repertory, especially college summer rep,  is a hothouse of exhausted gossip. In between determined drinking and frantic sex, all people can do is talk about everyone else. Everyone does a crushing amount of work, but apparently no one wants to sleep during their downtime.

Rowena is the stage manager for  _ Much Ado _ and  _ Grease _ , which should mean that she’s tearing her hair out, or at least be less poised, but she’s not. She’s always cool and collected, wearing beautiful clothing, with her perfumed mane of fiery hair always just so. Charlie watches her whenever she can get away with it. 

The gossip mills are almost always about the men. Kevin Tran, Sam Winchester, even his dangerous and flashy brother. The theater is a haven for gay men, especially musicals, and  _ haha, Danny Zuko is fucking Kenicke _ , but no one talks about any of the girls, and that’s just fine. Charlie keeps her mouth shut, spending her waking hours thinking about how everything Rowena does is beautiful. Even her handwriting. Rowena asks Charlie to take a note to Bobby, the lighting designer, and the beautiful loops in her purple ( _ purple) _ pen send tingles up the back of Charlie’s neck. She can hear everyone in the dorm laughing, drunk and crazy with summer, but she lies in her bed and thinks about green eyes and swooping purple writing on love notes.

It’s getting stupid. Charlie sits in the Juliet, waiting for Bobby to tell her which direction to focus this light, eyes on Rowena. This far up, she can watch her on the headset, arguing with Sam about lighting cues. He’s suspended above the house in the booth, and when Charlie lifts her eyes up from gazing at the goddess of Summer Rep, he’s watching her, pity on his face. Thankfully, she gets yelled at to pay attention, Bobby on the stage in his sunglasses, arms out in frustration.

Sam has to leave for a week when he breaks his collarbone doing… Charlie isn’t actually clear on what it was he  _ was _ doing, but his brother thinks it’s amusing, so it was probably stupid. That leaves no one to run the light board, but Sam has helpfully let Rowena know that he taught Charlie how to use it, and that’s how she ends up with Rowena in her ear.

During dry tech for  _ Grease, _ during wet tech and the dress rehearsal, it’s all she can do to keep up. She’s distracted by Rowena’s voice in her head, the musical lilt of her accent, and her surprisingly funny wit. Most stage managers hate joking on the headset, but Rowena allows some of it. Then when she ends up shutting the jokes down, the firm and gentle way she commands attention makes Charlie want to die right there in her chair. The distraction makes her miss cues, and that makes her screw up worse, and she’s in tears at the end of each night. Rowena is polite about it, but Charlie comes in early and leaves late, just to touch the equipment, to demystify it. She can do this.

Opening night is spectacular. Danny’s pants rip, and they lose one of the lights on the cyc so that  _ Beauty School Dropout _ is less pink than it should be, but Charlie is perfect, hands flying on the keyboard. She even is able to improvise when the computer goes wonky, and she has to use the ancient preset still hooked up in the booth, rebooting the computer during intermission.

After, Rowena stops by her as she’s packing up, covering the board and thinking obsessively about sleep.

“That was good, Charlie,” She puts a soft hand on Charlie’s shoulder, and the touch makes her want to melt into the floor. “You kept me sane tonight. Thank you.”

Then she’s gone, leaving the sweet scent of her perfume behind.


End file.
